Tuesday, August 5, 2014

British minister quits over Gaza policy

Chairman of the Conservative Party, Sayeeda Warsi delivers aspeech during the first day of the Conservative conference atthe International Convention Centre in Birmingham, centralEngland, on October 3, 2010.(AFP/Ben Stansall)

LONDON (AFP) -- A British minister resigned on Tuesday over the government's policy on Gaza.

Baroness Sayeeda Warsi, a minister at the Foreign Office and minister for faith and communities, wrote on Twitter: "With deep regret I have this morning written to the Prime Minister & tendered my resignation. I can no longer support Govt policy on #Gaza."

Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron's coalition government has drawn criticism, including from the main opposition Labor party, for not taking a tougher line against Israel over its operations in Gaza.

On Monday, Cameron said the United Nations was "right" to condemn an airstrike near a school in Rafah on Sunday which killed 10 people but would not say whether he thought it was a "criminal" act.

Warsi's parents were Pakistani immigrants and she was made a member of parliament's upper House of Lords in 2007.

She was appointed to Cameron's cabinet when his coalition government took power in 2010 and while she initially had a high media profile, her star had dimmed in recent years.

She was shuffled out of the full cabinet, the powerful inner circle of government ministers, in 2012.

Labour leader Ed Miliband last week accused Cameron of "inexplicable" silence over the suffering of Palestinian civilians in Gaza.

"The government needs to send a much clearer message to Israel that its actions in Gaza are unacceptable and unjustifiable," Miliband said.

"What I want to hear from David Cameron is that he believes that Israel's actions in Gaza are wrong and unjustified, and we haven't heard that from him."